Leadership is about influencing others to want to do what you want them to do.
The key words are “to want to do.” They’ve got to want to do it. You tell, and they decide if they’ll do it. When you tell your kids to clean up their room, they decide if they’ll do it based on their needs, consequences, accountabilities, and responsibilities.
Ask yourself: “What makes people want to follow me?”
You know what doesn’t work with children and employees: confusion, lack of trust, and no integrity, accountability, or consequences. A lot of managers say, “My people won’t do what I want them to do. I should get rid of them, but I can’t afford to have them leave, so I don’t fire them.”
What kind of accountability is this? If they don’t have to do what you want them to do, why should they do more than the minimum to keep their job? You’ve got to make them want to do it.
Provide clear expectations
People need to know exactly what you want them to achieve—the specific results you expect. Just as professional baseball managers use statistics and scoreboards to hold their players accountable and provide feedback, your employees need to know the score and what is expected of them.
The norm is to tell people to work very hard and try their best. But this doesn’t make it clear exactly what’s expected. People must be told, explained, and shown exactly what you want to happen, the results you expect, and when they must be completed.
Provide regular recognition and praise
Like winning coaches, effective leaders provide ongoing motivation, recognition, and praise to people who do the work and achieve the desired results. Weak leaders who don’t take time to thank people for a job well done get weak results.
Think of the great coaches—most are known as excellent motivators who use different methods depending on circumstances. Motivation can be provided in different ways, such as challenges, competitions, listening, training, encouragement, incentives, rewards, recognition, or praise. The top two motivating factors, providing the greatest incentive for people to perform, are regular recognition and praise.
Provide a clear understanding of the big picture
Employees need a clear understanding of the big picture (company, employees, customers, projects, etc.), what’s happening, what the future holds, where they fit in, how they add value to the process, and the changes or adjustments required for success.
Care about people
Leaders let their people know they care about them as individuals. People need to know you appreciate them as employees; you care about their personal goals, their future, their kids, and their families; and you value their contributions to the company’s success. People must know they’re important, and their needs and wants will be considered as they contribute to the entire organization’s success.
By following these simple guidelines, you’ll get your people to do what you want. Without employee problems, your bottom line will improve, and your company’s future will be bright. The key to it is to do it! All it takes is a little time to improve the results your people produce.
George Hedley, CPBC, is a certified professional construction business coach and speaker. He helps contractors build better businesses, grow, profit, improve estimating and field production, and get their companies to work. He is the best-selling author of “Get Your Construction Business to Always Make a Profit!” available on Amazon. Visit Construction Business Coaching to schedule a free introductory coaching session, receive his monthly Hardhat Hedlines Biz-Tips e-newsletter, download his template package, or watch his webinars and online video courses.
